Table of Contents
April 2011

Discover Magazine's mission is to enable readers to lead richer lives by explaining and expanding their universe. Each month we bring you in depth information and analysis from various topics ranging from technology and space to the living world we live in.

Mercury, sulfates, ozone, black carbon, flu-laced desert dust. Even as America tightens emission standards, the fast-growing economies of Asia are filling the air with hazardous components that circumnavigate the globe.

Digital sky surveys and real-time telescopic observations are unleashing an unprecedented flood of information. Astronomers have recently created new tools to sift through all that data, which could contain answers to some of the greatest questions in cosmology.

Google isn't the only company working on truly automated automobiles. Robot cars will reduce accidents, ease congestion, and keep others from interfering with my excellent driving—especially if we can get the bad drivers into them.

A mine in South Dakota contained the largest gold deposit in the Western Hemisphere and was the deepest mine in the United States, reaching down more than 8,000 feet. But the real ground-breaking work involved much smaller treasures.